Lone Mothers in Affluent Nations

Abstract

‘Lone mother’ is now the most commonly used English term to describe families formed by death, divorce, or by a woman having a child outside marriage. Lone motherhood is not new, but the percentage of lone mother families has increased dramatically during the last part of the twentieth century in most western countries. As lone mother families have become more numerous and more visible, so they have become a public policy issue, because of their marked dependence on state welfare benefits.The causes of the increase in the number of lone-mother families have been debated hotly. There is most agreement in respect of the importance of women's increased economic independence, but male irresponsibility and falling income, the existence of state welfare support, and changes in the meaning of personal relationships have all been addressed.The problem of lone motherhood for public policy has revolved around whether to treat women with children and without men as mothers or workers. Different writers have adopted very different approaches in this regard over time. Policies have been least generous in the English-speaking countries, where lone mother families are most likely to be poor.